Brittany Chambers scores 42 points in K-State women’s NIT win

It’s safe to say Brittany Chambers wasn’t ready to call it a career. The Kansas State senior set one scoring record after another Thursday en route to a 42-point game and a victory over Texas Southern.

Chambers, a Kansas State senior, scored a school-record 42 points and grabbed 11 rebounds, leading the women’s basketball team past Texas Southern 72-44 in the first round of the WNIT on Thursday at Bramlage Coliseum.

Chambers broke the single-game record set by Kendra Wecker on Nov. 26, 2004, against Illinois State. K-State coach Deb Patterson said Chambers’ performance was among the best in the program’s strong history.

“You could really just call this Brittany Chambers at her offensive best,” Patterson said. “She scored in a variety of ways and just had a beautiful stroke.”

K-State started the game on a 13-0 run while holding Texas Southern without a field goal for the first 7 1/2 minutes. The Wildcats lead ballooned to 29 near the end of the first half before the Tigers finally starting making some shots. K-State’s largest lead of 36 points came midway through the second half.

Chambers was on fire in the first half. Several of her seven first-half three-pointers were deep with a defender in her face. By the 9-minute mark of the first half, Chambers had 14 points and had knocked down three straight treys as the Wildcats led 24-6.

Chambers’ 29 first-half points broke the school record for points in a half set by Jennifer Jones on March 3, 1984, against Missouri, and her nine three-pointers tied the WNIT single-game record.

Chambers’ 15 field goals were more than the entire Tiger lineup (14), and the senior outscored the Tigers on her own until the game’s final minutes.

Chambers said she was aware of her point total all night. She missed three straight threes in the same possession late in the game in an effort to tie Laurie Koehn’s school record of 10.

Chambers said her shot was off the mark during warm-ups.

“Sometimes you can tell right away how you feel shooting,” Chambers said. “I felt terrible in warmups actually, so sometimes that’s a good sign for me.”

Joining Chambers in double figures for K-State, 16-17, was Haley Texada with 12 points. Texas Southern, 20-12, was led by Gianne Fleming and Te’era Williams with 15 and 14 points, respectively.

K-State will play host to Illinois State at 7 p.m. on Monday in the second round of the WNIT.